


Treehouse

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:47:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loke and Isolde find the treehouse in Greendale.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Treehouse

Isolde rode into the Sunfield’s yard atop a majestic black Arabian stallion, smiling at the familiar surroundings. Little Freja waved at her, and Martina, too, gave her a tired wave from where she was nursing her newest child.

“Hi, Isolde,” said Saga, straightening up with an empty slop bucket swinging in her hand. Isolde’s horse shied away from the little splatters of slop, but Isolde steadied him with a gentle yet firm hand.

“Hey, Saga,” said Isolde. “Is your brother here?”

“Oh yeah, he’s around,” said Saga. She glanced around, then rolled her eyes and called out, “Loke, your girlfriend is here!”

Loke appeared from out of the barn, carrying an empty bucket that had clearly been sitting in there for a few weeks.

“Oh, mum isn’t looking, you can drop the act,” said Saga, and giggled. “You still have to milk the cows later, though.”

“Rats,” said Loke. He put the dusty bucket down and stood in front of his girlfriend, smiling. “Hi, Isolde.”

“Loke,” said Isolde, giggling at his bashfulness. “Climb aboard, I’m going exploring in Greendale and I want you to come with me.”

“Sure! Um, if that’s okay with mum and dad,” said Loke, looking to his sister.

“Go right ahead, we won’t miss you,” said Saga.

“Awesome!” Loke’s eyes brightened and Isolde helped him up onto her horse, who accepted the extra weight without much protest.

“Hey, actually, maybe we should stop by Jorvik Stables first and hire out a horse for you,” said Isolde. “It might be a bit too dangerous to ride like this through Greendale.”

“But I don’t know how to ride,” said Loke.

“A Jorvegian who doesn’t know how to ride? Wow,” said Isolde, and laughed. “Come on anyway, it’s easy. I’ll have Johanna give you an easy horse.”

About half an hour later, Loke was sitting at least somewhat comfortably in the saddle of a gentle-mannered horse. His mount wasn’t nearly as handsome as Isolde’s, but the typical Appaloossan spots were quite pretty. They still made quite a handsome pair though, as Isolde’s black Arabian trotted alongside Loke’s horse on the way to Greendale.

“Why couldn’t I just borrow one of your horses?” asked Loke, glancing down at the lower Goldspur Mill where he knew horses were sold.

“Who says I’m allowed to borrow this one?” asked Isolde, and giggled. She smiled as their horses stepped into the shade of Greendale.

“It’s much nicer in here,” said Loke. “Cooler. Noisy birds, though.”

“Ugh, tell me about it,” said Isolde. “I ride both Greendale races every day, and I can barely hear Midnight’s hooftbeats over the birds.”

“Hey, that white bush stands out,” said Loke, glancing down at the ground.

“Huh, it does,” said Isolde. “There’s another one up ahead. Let’s follow them, see where they lead.”

“I thought you rode through here every day,” said Loke.

“Yeah, I ride the races. I’m too busy looking for shortcuts and focusing on the track to look around,” said Isolde. She could just make out a faint path through the bushes, one much older and much less used than the race tracks. But now Midnight’s hooves and Loke’s horse were renewing that path, making it more easily visible to anyone who might someday come across it.

“I wonder who planted these bushes,” said Loke. “Heh, maybe they’ll lead to an old mansion.”

“Don’t be stupid,” said Isolde. “I’d notice a mansion, of all things, Loke.”

“Not if it was glamoured,” said Loke, his cheeks turning crimson in a blush.

“Okay, maybe that would be a good reason for not noticing a huge mansion. But anyway, I don’t think that a fairy or something would have a mansion in Greendale. It could be the entrance to a fairy realm or something, though. But I doubt it. Fairies are trickier than that.”

“You believe in fairies?” asked Loke, looking at his girlfriend in a whole new light.

“Duh,” said Isolde. “Greendale was the domain of the fair folk a long time before us Goldspurs showed up. As the legends ago, one of my great great great grandmothers or something fought the fairies over this land and that’s how the Goldspurs became the new official caretakers of the Greendale forest.”

“Cool,” said Loke. “So your family has always lived here?”

“Oh no, we’ve been all over Jorvik,” said Isolde. “I know one of the Goldspur women used to run Jor-jitsu over in Epona before she passed on.” She turned back to smile at her boyfriend. “Didn’t think I was so magical, huh?”

“Not really, no,” said Loke, chuckling. “Wow, and here I am, just the son of a farmer.”

“A farmer who owns a lot of the farmland around Jarlaheim,” said Isolde. She rode beside him and nudged him gently. “You’re normal and I like that.”

“Really?” Loke looked at her and found her smiling.

“Yeah, really,” said Isolde. “Think you can manage a kiss on horseback?”

“I’d probably fall off,” said Loke. Isolde snorted and giggled.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” said Isolde. “Alright then, we’ll just kiss when we get to wherever these bushes are leading.”

The path was a lot clearer now, and easier to navigate. Their horses still had to step over the odd stick or two, but finally they reached the end of the path. It was a tree.

“Well, that was anticlimactic,” said Isolde. “Not even a gateway to another realm.”

“I dunno about that. Look up,” said Loke. Isolde looked up, and her frown morphed into a delighted grin when she beheld the rope ladder and a key dangling from it.

“A secret treehouse hidden in the woods,” said Isolde, still grinning. “Awesome.” She dismounted and grabbed the ladder, pulling it down so that it was closer to the ground.

“Are you sure you trust that old ladder?” asked Loke. “It could be rotting.”

“You can catch me if I fall,” said Isolde, and Loke hurriedly dismounted and stood beneath her. After he got up from falling out of the saddle, anyway.

Luckily, Isolde managed to scale the ladder without incident twice, the second time to retrieve the key and return to the trapdoor. The lock was a little dirty and tricky to slide the key in, but finally she managed and pushed the trapdoor open.

“It’s open,” she called down, and disappeared inside. Loke could hear Isolde sneezing and coughing as he climbed up the ladder, and by the time he arrived he could understand what all of the coughing and sneezing was about.

The inside of the treehouse was coated with dust. No spiders had made their homes here, not with this amount of dust to weigh down their webs. There weren’t even any bird nests, although Isolde found one when she opened a window. Unfortunately, the window’s hinges had rusted through and the little door plummeted to the floor of Greendale, leaving the thin curtains to sway in the breeze.

“This is just screaming out for redecorating,” said Isolde, putting her hands on her hips and standing back to assess the situation. The treehouse was empty except for dust. There wasn’t even any furniture.

“So you do have some girliness in you,” said Loke. He laughed even as Isolde punched him in the chest.

“I like this place,” said Isolde. “It’s a nice little secret place that we can go to whenever we want to get away.”

“I like it too,” said Loke. He smiled. “It’s not too far away from your home.”

“Exactly,” said Isolde. “I wonder who used to come here. Who built it and who planted the bushes.”

“Maybe a fairy?” said Loke.

“No.” Isolde shook her head. “This is too normal for them. Maybe just some other kids in Jarlaheim or Jorvik.”

“Maybe a Soul Rider? I’ve heard of them, even though I’ve never ridden a horse before today,” said Loke.

“Hmm. Maybe,” said Isolde. “But I don’t want to ask anyone just in case they want to find this place too. This is our place. Can you keep it a secret?”

“Yes,” said Loke, nodding. “It’s like a pretend real home. Like moving in together.”

“You really want to do that?” asked Isolde. Now she looked bashful, ducking her head and looking up at Loke.

“Well, yeah,” said Loke. “I really like you.” He almost fell when Isolde threw her arms around him in a hug.

“Thank you. I really like you too,” said Isolde, pulling back a little and smiling at him. Then she kissed him, only minding the dust a little. At least she was here with her boyfriend. They had a place together, their own place. Just like every other couple.


End file.
